Medical Vaporizer

ABSTRACT

A medical vaporizer includes a liquid drug reservoir configured to receive and hold a liquid drug. A low power graphical display is configured to intermittently receive power. The low power graphical display is operable to visually present information and maintain the visual presentation of information in the absence of power. A controller is configured to intermittently receive power and upon receiving power the controller to operates to determine a status of a medical vaporizer. The controller operates the low power graphical display to present the status of the medical vaporizer as visually presented information.

BACKGROUND

The present disclosure is related to the field of anesthesia delivery.More specifically, the present disclosure is related to medicalvaporizers.

Medical vaporizers are devices that hold a volume of liquid drugexemplarily for use with an anesthesia delivery machine. The vaporizeroperates to convert the liquid drug to a gaseous state. The delivery ofthe gaseous drug to the patient is facilitated by the interaction of theanesthesia delivery machine with the vaporizer.

Modem electronic vaporizers may not be considered compatible for usewith a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine if the vaporizer has anelectronic LED or LCD display, due to the strong magnetic fieldassociated with the MRI machine. Some previous solutions have reliedupon electromagnetic shielding over the electronic LCD or LED display.Such electromagnetic shielding reduces the brightness and impairsvisibility of the display. Additionally, if it is desired that theelectronic display of the vaporizer be operational when the vaporizer isnot connected to an anesthesia delivery machine, the vaporizer must alsoinclude a battery. However, this introduces further disadvantages,including battery charging, monitoring, replacement, and disposed.

BRIEF DISCLOSURE

An exemplary embodiment of a medical vaporizer includes a liquid drugreservoir configured to receive and hold a liquid drug. A low powergraphical display is configured to intermittently receive power. The lowpower graphical display is operable to visually present information andmaintain the visual presentation of information in the absence of power.A controller is configured to intermittently receive power. Uponreceiving power, the controller operates to determine a status of themedical vaporizer. The controller operates the low power graphicaldisplay to present the status of the medical vaporizer as visuallypresented information.

In an exemplary embodiment of a method of operation of a medicalvaporizer, the medical vaporizer includes a liquid drug reservoirconfigured to receive and hold a liquid drug, a low power graphicaldisplay, and a controller. The medical vaporizer receives power from anexternal power source external to the medical vaporizer. The controllerdetermines a status of the medical vaporizer. The low power graphicaldisplay is operated to visually present the status of the medicalvaporizer. The medical vaporizer is disconnected from the external powersource. The visual presentation of the status of the medical vaporizeris maintained on the low power graphical display in the absence of powerfrom the external power source.

An exemplary embodiment of a vaporizer system includes a medicalvaporizer and an anesthesia delivery machine. The medical vaporizerincludes a liquid drug reservoir configured to receive and hold a liquiddrug. The medical vaporizer further includes a low power graphicaldisplay configured to intermittently receive power. The low powergraphical display is operable to visually present information andmaintain the visual presentation of information in the absence of power.The medical vaporizer includes a controller that is configured tointermittently receive power. Upon receiving power, the controlleroperates to determine a status of the medical vaporizer and operates thelow power graphical display to present the status of the medicalvaporizer as visually presented information. The anesthesia deliverymachine is configured to connect to the medical vaporizer. Theanesthesia delivery machine is configured to supply power to the medicalvaporizer when the anesthesia machine is connected to the medicalvaporizer.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 depicts an exemplary embodiment of a medical vaporizer.

FIGS. 2A and 2B are a schematic diagram of an exemplary embodiment of avaporizer system.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of an exemplary embodiment of a method ofoperation of a medical vaporizer.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an alternative exemplary embodiment of avaporizer system.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart of an alternative exemplary embodiment of amethod of operation of a medical vaporizer.

DETAILED DISCLOSURE

In the following detailed disclosure, reference is made to theaccompanying drawings. From a part thereof, an image is shown by way ofillustration of specific embodiments, which may be practiced. Theseembodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilledin the art to practice the embodiments, and it is to be understood thatother embodiments may be utilized and that logical, mechanical,electrical, and other changes may be made without departing from thescope of the embodiment. The following detailed description is,therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense. It is to be understoodthat the exemplary embodiments depicted in the Figures and describedherein, have been selected for the purposes of description anddisclosure and certain embodiments may be implemented with additionalfeatures or only portions of the features as described herein whilestill remaining within the scope of the present disclosure as will berecognized by one of ordinary skill in the art.

FIG. 1 depicts an exemplary embodiment of a medical vaporizer 10. Themedical vaporizer 10 internally contains a liquid drug reservoir (notdepicted), which may alternatively be known as a sump that is configuredto receive and hold liquid drug, exemplarily an anesthetic agent. Themedical vaporizer 10 includes a filling interface 12 which is configuredto receive a source of the liquid drug, exemplarily a bottle (notdepicted) and transfer the liquid drug from the liquid drug source tothe liquid drug reservoir. The medical vaporizer operates, often inconjunction with an anesthesia delivery machine (not depicted), asdescribed in further detail herein, to change the state of the liquiddrug into a gaseous drug for delivery to the patient. When not activelyin use, the vaporizer 10 may hold the liquid drug sealed within theliquid drug reservoir or otherwise within the vaporizer 10 such that noliquid or gaseous drug escapes from the medical vaporizer 10. Themedical vaporizer 10 further includes a graphical display 14 which, asdescribed in greater detail herein, is a low power graphical display. Inembodiments, the low power graphical display 14 is implemented with anelectronic ink graphical display. Electronic ink graphical displays mayexemplarily be constructed as electrophoretic displays which form visualimages by arranging charged pigment particles using an applied electricfield. However, a person of ordinary skill in the art would recognizethat there are other techniques and implementations to constructelectronic ink displays or other low power graphical displays. Inembodiments, the low power graphical display, exemplarily the electronicink display, is capable of holding a static visual presentation of textand/or images without the further application of electricity.

As will be described in further detail herein, the low power graphicaldisplay 14 may be configured and operated to visually present a varietyof information, including a status of the medical vaporizer 10. Asexemplarily depicted in FIG. 1, the low power graphical display 14presents a graphical indication of a remaining volume 16 of the liquiddrug, a temporal indication 18 of the remaining liquid drug, aconcentration of the liquid drug 20, and an identification of the liquiddrug 22, exemplarily Desflurane. The low power graphical display 14further visually presents a two-dimensional code 24, exemplarily a quickresponse (QR) code. However, it will recognized that in alternativeembodiments other graphical forms of conveying data, including, but notlimited to one-dimensional bar codes may be used.

FIGS. 2A and 2B are a schematic diagram of an exemplary embodiment of avaporizer system 30. In the exemplary embodiment of the vaporizer system30 depicted in FIGS. 2A and 2B, the vaporizer system 30 generallyincludes a medical vaporizer 32, an anesthesia delivery machine 34, andat least one auxiliary communication device 36. It will be recognizedthat the exemplary embodiment of the vaporizer system 30 as depicted anddescribed with respect to FIGS. 2A and 2B is merely exemplary ofembodiments of vaporizer systems and alternative embodiments consistentwith the present disclosure may incorporate additional components, orfewer components still remaining within the scope of the presentdisclosure.

The medical vaporizer 32 includes a controller 38 that exemplarilyincludes a computer readable medium (not depicted) that is programmedwith computer readable code that upon execution of the computer readablecode by the controller causes the controller to carry out the functionsand operations as described in further detail herein. The controller 38may also include numbering in the form of a computer readable mediumthat stores a plurality of data fields for receiving and/or storinginformation as described in further detail herein. The controller 38 mayoperate, in conjunction with or in association with a display driver 40to operate a low power graphical display 42. As previously described,the low power graphical display 42 may exemplarily be an electronic inkgraphical display.

Embodiments of the medical vaporizer 32 may exemplary includeelectromagnetic shielding 44. Such electromagnetic shielding 44 mayexemplarily shield the electronics and components contained therein fromelectromagnetic induced capacitances or electromagnetic inducedinductances, exemplarily as may be caused by the electromagnetic fieldgenerated by a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) device. It is to benoted that the low power graphical display 42 is located outside of theelectromagnetic shielding 44. Also external to the electromagneticshielding 44 is a radio frequency (RF) coil 46 and, in exemplaryembodiments, an antenna 48. Embodiments implementing the RF coil 46and/or antenna 48 will be described in further detail herein.

Embodiments of the medical vaporizer 32 further include an anesthesiamachine connector 50 that exemplary bridges an interface 52 between themedical vaporizer 32 and the anesthesia delivery machine 34. Inembodiments, the anesthesia machine connector 50 facilitates at least aphysical connection between the medical vaporizer 52 and the anesthesiadelivery machine 34 across the interface 52 such as to facilitate apneumatic connection 54 between the pneumatic system 56 of the medicalvaporizer and the pneumatic system 58 of the anesthesia delivery machine34. As will be described in further detail herein, the pneumatic system56 of the medical vaporizer 32 is connected to the liquid drug reservoir60 and the pneumatic system 56 exemplarily converts the liquid drug to agaseous state and the gaseous drug is transferred across the pneumaticconnection 54 to the pneumatic system 58 of the anesthesia deliverymachine 34 through which the gaseous drug can be delivered to thepatient by the pneumatic system 58.

The medical vaporizer 32 is also wired and/or wirelessly connected tothe anesthesia delivery machine 34 when the medical vaporizer 32 andanesthesia delivery machine 34 are connected across the interface 52. Inan exemplary embodiment of a wired connection, a wired power connection62 connects a power supply 64 of the anesthesia delivery machine 34 witha power supply 66 of the medical vaporizer 32. The wired powerconnection 62 facilitates the transfer of power from the power supply 64to the power supply 66, such that the medical vaporizer 32 receivespower and is powered when the medical vaporizer 32 is connected to theanesthesia delivery machine 34. In a wired connection embodiment, thevaporizer system 32 further includes a wired data connection 68 wherebycommunications data is transferred between a communicationmodulator/demodulator 70 of the anesthesia delivery machine 34 and acommunication modulator/demodulator 72 of the medical vaporizer 32. Thewired data connection 68 exemplarily facilitates the transfer of data,as disclosed in further detail herein and associated with particularexemplary embodiments.

In still further embodiments, the medical vaporizer 32 and anesthesiadelivery machine 34 are connected by a wireless connection 74. Thewireless connection 74 may exemplarily be between an RF coil 76 of theanesthesia delivery machine 34 and an RF coil 78 of the medial vaporizer32. The anesthesia delivery machine 34 can include a near field charger80 connected to the power supply 64 and operated by a controller 82 ofthe anesthesia delivery machine 34 to energize the RF coil 76 such thatthe wireless connection 74 enables the transfer of power through the RFcoil 78 to a near field power converter 84 of the medical vaporizer 32which can convert the energization received at the RF coil 78 intoelectrical power that may be directed to the power supply 66, orexemplarily to the controller 38 at other electrical components in themedical vaporizer 32, such that the medical vaporizer 32 may operate ina full power mode when wirelessly connected to the anesthesia deliverymachine 34.

The communication modulator/demodulator 70 of the anesthesia deliverymachine may exemplarily also be connected to the RF coil 76 such thatthe wireless connection 74 also transmits data between the anesthesiadelivery machine 34 and the medical vaporizer 32 as described in furtherdetail herein, in embodiments, the RF coil 78 of the medical vaporizer32 is also connected to the communication modulator/demodulator 72 ofthe medical vaporizer in order to facilitate this transfer ofcommunication data.

In an exemplary embodiment, the data connection between the medicalvaporizer 32 and the anesthesia delivery machine 34 may exemplarilyoperate to transfer stored data and operational statuses between the twodevices. In an embodiment, the medical vaporizer 32 may send anoperational status, liquid drug amount, liquid drug identification,calibration table, or other information to the anesthesia deliverymachine 34. The anesthesia delivery machine 34 may send an operational,service, or maintenance status of the anesthesia delivery machine 34 tothe medical vaporizer 32 for storage as disclosed in greater detailherein.

In embodiments, the power supply 66 of the medical vaporizer 32 mayoperate to charge a battery 86 in order to store electrical power,although it will be understood that in alternative embodiments, nobattery 86 is used. In alternative embodiments, a super capacitor 88operates to store a charge which may be drawn upon for minimaloperations in a low power operational mode of the medical vaporizer 32when the medical vaporizer 32 is disconnected from an external powersource, for example, the anesthesia delivery machine 34, as will bedescribed in further detail herein. It will also be recognized that instill further embodiments, no energy storage component is used, otherthan those that may be an integral component of the controller or otherelectronics in the medical vaporizer.

Embodiments of the medical vaporizer 32 may further include a magneticfield strength detector 90, exemplarily located internal to theelectromagnetic shielding 44. The magnetic field strength detector 90may be communicatively connected to the controller 38 and serve as afunctional indication as to the effectiveness of the shielding providedby the electromagnetic shielding 44.

As will be described in further detail herein with respect to particularembodiments, the vaporizer system 30 may include one or more auxiliarycommunication devices 36 which can communicate with the medicalvaporizer 32 in the manners as described herein. In one embodiment, theauxiliary communication device 36 is a portable device 92 which eitheris or includes a camera. Such portable device 92 is exemplarily a cellphone or a tablet computer that includes an integral camera that isoperable to capture an image of a QR code or other bar code presented onthe low power graphical display and the portable device 92 is operableto interpret the data encoded in the QR code.

In another embodiment, the auxiliary communication device 36 is a nearfield device 94 that exemplarily includes an RF coil. The near fielddevice 94 may operate in the manner as disclosed in further detailherein to interact with the RF coil 46 of the medical vaporizer 32,particularly when the medical vaporizer 32 is disconnected from theanesthesia delivery machine 34. Interaction between the RF coil of thenear field device 94 and the RF coil 46 of the medical vaporizer 32enables a near field power converter 96 to convert the electromagneticenergy received by the RF coil 46 into energization power suitable foruse by electrical components of the medical vaporizer 32, exemplarily,the controller 38, the display driver 40, and the low power graphicaldisplay 42. In such embodiments as will be described in further detailherein, the medical vaporizer 32 can use the power obtained from thenear field device 94 to operate in a low power mode such that themedical vaporizer 32 can update the status of the medical vapor and/oroperate the low power graphical display 42 through the display driver 40in order to update the presentation of information on the low powergraphical display 42. In one non-limiting example, the medical vaporizer32 may use the power from the near field power converter 96 to perform areading by a fluid sensor 98 associated with the liquid drug reservoir60 and provide this reading from the fluid sensor 98 to the controller38. The controller 38 may then operate the low power graphical display42 through the display driver 40 to update the presentation of theamount of liquid drug in the liquid drug reservoir 60.

In an alternative embodiment, the super capacitor 88 may providesufficient power to the medical vaporizer 32 when the medical vaporizer32 is disconnected from the anesthesia delivery machine 34 such that afiller cap state detector 100 may operate in conjunction with the liquiddrug reservoir 60 such as to detect when the liquid drug reservoir 60 isaccessed such as in a filling procedure. Upon detecting that the fillercap has been opened and/or closed, a reading of the volume of liquiddrug in the liquid drug reservoir 60 by the fluid sensor 98 may beperformed and the controller 38 uses this information to update the lowpower graphical display 42 to reflect the refilled volume of the liquiddrug. This feature may be useful in embodiments wherein the medicalvaporizers 32 are stored apart from anesthesia delivery machines 34 andmay be periodically refilled while in storage such that the medicalvaporizers 32 are ready for subsequent use.

Referring back to the RF coil 46 and the near field device 94, in stillfurther exemplary embodiments, the near field device 94 may alsocommunicatively connect to the medical vaporizer 32 through the RF coil46. Such communication data may be directed through a communicationssignal modulator/demodulator 102. The communication signalmodulator/demodulator 102 may exemplarily facilitate communicationbetween the controller 38 of the medical vaporizer 32 and the near fielddevice 94, through the RF coil 46. In still further embodiments as willbe described in more detail herein, when the medical vaporizer 32receives power from the near field device 94 as provided by the nearfield power converter 96, the controller 38 may achieve communicationsor data transfer with the near field device 94 and in such embodimentsthe determined updated status of the medical vaporizer 32 may betransmitted to the near field device 94 with or without updating the lowpower graphical display 42. In still further embodiments, any of avariety of stored or monitored static or dynamic information, asdisclosed in greater detail herein, may be transmitted from thecontroller 38 to the near field device 94, when a communication andpower connection have been established between the near field device 94and the RF coil 46 of the medical vaporizer 32.

As previously described, the medical vaporizer 32 may also include andantenna 48, exemplarily an RF antenna; however, it will be recognizedthat other forms of wireless communication devices, including but notlimited to optical communication devices, may be used. The antenna 48 isconnected to a multi-mode wireless communication system 104 thatoperates when the medical vaporizer 32 has sufficient power tofacilitate the transfer of data from the medical vaporizer 32. This maybe the medical vaporizer 32 is connected to the anesthesia deliverymachine 34, an external charging station (wired or wireless charging),or the medical vaporizer 32 has sufficient stored energy exemplarily ina battery or super capacitor.

Any of a variety of other auxiliary communication devices 36 that may beconfigured to connect to the antenna 48, these may include other medicaldevices 106 including, but not limited to patient monitoring devices, orpatient medical records and tracking systems. In still furtherembodiments, a Zig Bee network 108 may be established in a medical caresetting. Zig Bee is a communication protocol specification used tocreate personal area networks. Zig Bee is a low-cost and low-powerstandard for creating wireless networks between small, low-power digitalradios. Such a meshed Zig Bee network 108 may be used to exemplarilyestablish a data communication with a multi-mode wireless communicationsystem 110 of the anesthesia delivery machine 34 or to connect to any ofa variety of other portable wireless devices, including an inventorymanagement device 112. Such an inventory management device 112 may beused in a setting as previously described, wherein a plurality ofmedical vaporizers 32 are stored at a single location and filled withliquid drug such that the medical vaporizers 32 are ready to be usedwith anesthesia delivery machines. An inventory management device 112may wirelessly connect to each of the medical vaporizers 32, exemplarilydirectly to the antenna 48, or through the exemplarily mentions Zig Beenetwork 108 such as to receive the current status and other informationas may be broadcasted by the medical vaporizer 32, such as to identifythe medical vaporizer 32 in the hospital inventory, and to update astatus thereof. The inventory management device 112 may further alsoconnect to a broader hospital network 114, such as a Wi-Fi network 114.The hospital Wi-Fi network 114 may facilitate the transfer ofinformation collected by the inventory management device 112 and mayalso communicatively connect back to a multi-mode wireless communicationsystem 110 of the anesthesia delivery machine 34 or to other portableWi-Fi devices 116. In still further embodiments, the antenna 48 of themedical vaporizer 32 may also be operable to communicatively connect toa portable device 118 exemplarily on the Bluetooth wireless technologystandard.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart that depicts an exemplary embodiment of a method200 of operation of a medical vaporizer. The description herein of themethod 200 is understood to be exemplary in nature and a person ofordinary skill in the art will recognize that alternative embodiments ofthe method as described herein may be implemented with more or fewersteps or the steps may be performed in an alternative order whilemaintaining the functionality of the systems and methods as describedherein. A person of ordinary skill in the art will also recognize thatadditional features, operations, functions, and interactions occurringwithin embodiments of the vaporizer system 30, which may carry outembodiments of the method 200, will be described herein with respect tothe method 200.

Referring now to FIGS. 1-3, the method 200 begins with the connection ofthe vaporizer to a power source at 202. The power source to which thevaporizer is connected is an external power source and is exemplarily ananesthesia delivery machine as described above. It will also berecognized that in alternative embodiments, the external power sourcemay be a charging station or other charging device that may exemplarilyprovide power to the vaporizer by wired or wireless transmissionimplementations.

While receiving power from the external power source at 202 thevaporizer operates at 204 to determine a vaporizer status. As describedabove, the determined status of the medical vaporizer may exemplarily bea fill level of liquid drug in the liquid drug reservoir or otherdynamic information. It will be recognized that the determined vaporizerstatus may be one or more of any of a variety of information. Inexemplary embodiments, the information that may be monitored and/orpresented by the medical vaporizer may be static information or dynamicinformation. It will be recognized that in an exemplary embodiment,static information may be programmed into the medical vaporizer as partof manufacture of the medical vaporizer or such static information maybe updated or entered by a user input control. On the other hand,dynamic information may be information that changes and may bemonitored, determined, or received by the medical vaporizer and thusstored, presented, or transmitted as disclosed herein.

Exemplary types of static information may include an identification ofthe liquid drug type, a device serial number, a manufactureridentification, a manufacturing date, a calibration table, or a websitewith additional information; however, it will be recognized by a personof ordinary skill in the art that this list is non-limiting and thatother forms of static information may be used in embodiments asdisclosed herein. Dynamic information may include, in addition to a filllevel of liquid drug, a last service date of the medical vaporizer, anoperation log of the medical vaporizer, a current location or a locationlog of determined locations of the medical vaporizer, a drug levelhistory, or a date of a most recent fill of liquid drug; however, aperson of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that other forms ofdynamic information may also be determined, monitored, or received. Instill further embodiments, the dynamic information may be received bythe medical vaporizer and such dynamic information may exemplarilyinclude information regarding and anesthesia delivery machine to whichthe medical vaporizer is or was connected, such information may includespecific information regarding anesthesia machine status or state,including an on/off state, concentration setting, maintenance and/orservice information, and/or operational statuses. This dynamicinformation may also exemplarily include a log of multiple statusesand/or states of an anesthesia delivery machine. In a still furtherembodiment, the medical vaporizer may maintain a log of specificanesthesia delivery machines to which the medical vaporizer has beenconnected and dates, times, and operational information regarding eachof these connections.

Referring back to FIG. 3, at 206, the graphical display is updated,exemplarily by the controller and display driver of the medicalvaporizer to present the determined vaporizer status on the low powergraphical display of the medical vaporizer. In an exemplary embodiment,the low power graphical display of the medical vaporizer may also beoperated at 206 to present additional dynamic or static information asdescribed above. In one exemplary embodiment, at least a portion of theinformation, which may include static and/or dynamic information, ispresented in the low power graphical display as one or moretwo-dimensional matrix codes or other bar codes, which in exemplaryembodiments, is a quick response (QR) code.

Additional information regarding embodiments that use an exemplary QRcode to present information on the low power graphical display will bedescribed in further detail herein with respect to FIGS. 4 and 5. FIG. 4is a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of a vaporizer system 120that presents information, at least in part, using a two-dimensionalcode. FIG. 5 is a flow chart of an exemplary embodiment of a method 150of operation of a medical vaporizer.

FIG. 4 is an additional exemplary embodiment of a vaporizer system 120.The vaporizer system 120 includes a medical vaporizer 122 which includesa controller 124, a vaporizer subsystem 126, a low power graphicaldisplay 128, a user input 130, and a non-transient computer-readablememory 132. The controller 124 includes a processor, such as aprogrammable microprocessor. The controller 124 is in communication withthe vaporizer subsystem 126, the user input 130, the low power graphicaldisplay 128, and the memory 132. It will be recognized that similarcomponents have been described above and specific features as describedabove may be incorporated into embodiments of the vaporizer system 120.

Exemplarily, the medical vaporizer 122 may include features ofembodiments of the medical vaporizer as described above with respect toFIGS. 1-3. The vaporizer subsystem 126 may exemplarily include thesefeatures of the vaporizer 10 of FIG. 1 or vaporizer 32 of FIG. 32 nototherwise depicted in FIG. 4. The vaporizer subsystem 126 is in two-waycommunication with the controller 124, such that control signals may becommunicated from the controller to the vaporizer subsystem 126, anddata collected by the vaporizer subsystem 126 may be returned to thecontroller 124 for processing and display on the low power graphicaldisplay 128. The data collected by the vaporizer subsystem 126 mayinclude dynamic information as described above. The user input 130 maybe, for example, a keyboard, mouse, trackball, touch pad or other knowninput device. In some embodiments, the user input 130 may be acommunicatively connected device external to the vaporizer 122. In anembodiment, the user input device 130 facilitates the entry of static ordynamic information as described above.

The memory 132 stores a plurality of signal processing, display, andcommunication algorithms for execution by the controller. In exemplaryembodiments the memory 132 also defines a plurality of data fields forreceiving, for example, static or dynamic information. The memory 132may additionally store a plurality of optically machine-readable codeswhich may be selectably or automatically displayed on the low powergraphical display 128. As illustrated in FIG. 4, an opticallymachine-readable code 134 may take the form of a two-dimensional code,such as a QR-code 134. In other embodiments, the optically machinereadable code may be another type of two-dimensional code. In stillother embodiments, the optically machine readable code may be aone-dimensional code, such as a barcode. As described in further detailherein, the controller 124 may operate the low power graphical display128 to visually present at least some of the information, which mayinclude static or dynamic information in the form of the opticallymachine-readable code 134.

With continued reference to FIG. 4, the vaporizer system 120 may be usedin conjunction with a portable electronic device 136. The portableelectronic device 136 may be, for example, a smartphone such as an AppleiPhone and equivalents thereof, or a tablet computer such an Apple iPadand equivalents thereof. The portable electronic device 136 includes adisplay 138, such as a touchscreen display, and a camera 140. Withappropriate application software, as known in the art of portableelectronic devices, the camera 140 can function as an optical scannerfor reading an optically machine readable code (e.g., the opticallymachine readable code 134 of the medical vaporizer 122). The portableelectronic device 136 is in wireless communication with a networkdatabase 142, such as the Internet or a specialized network. Thewireless connection may take the form of a wireless local area network(WLAN), such as a Wi-Fi connection, or a wireless telecommunicationnetwork (e.g., a 3G or 4G telecommunications network). In an exemplaryembodiment, the portable electronic device 136 is the portableelectronic device 92 of FIG. 2.

Referring to FIGS. 4 and 5, the controller 124 operates to present atleast a portion of the static and/or dynamic information of the lowpower graphical display 128 as an optically machine readable code 134.In another embodiment, the controller, at 152, receives a request fordata that is not available at the medical vaporizer 122. In anembodiment, the displayed code 134 is selected at 154 from a library ofpossible codes stored on the memory 132. In embodiments this selectedcode is representative of at least a portion of the static and/ordynamic information or the requested data not available at thevaporizer.

With the machine readable code 134 displayed on the low power graphicaldisplay 128 of the medical vaporizer 122, the user, at 156, scans themachine readable code 134 with the camera 140 (i.e., scanner) of theportable electronic device 136. The portable electronic device 136identifies the machine readable code 134 and responds by looking up theencoded information at 158. Depending on the encoded information, therequested information may be found internally on the portable electronicdevice, or it may be accessed from the external network database. Theportable electronic device may also forward an email, SMS, or othermessages to a support center with the data needed to provide customersupport. In still further embodiments, the machine readable code mayembody a request for information to be entered into the medicalvaporizer 122, exemplarily static information.

Once the information is identified and received by the portableelectronic device 136, the graphical display 138 is operated by theportable electronic device 136 to visually present the static and/ordynamic information or requested data at 160. If, for example, the userhas requested technical support, or “help” assistance, then technicalsupport information or instructions will appear on the display 138 ofthe portable electronic device 136, in order to guide the user to asolution. In another example, the user may request an ideal orcomparative reference image to display on the portable electronicdevice, for comparison to image data displayed on the display screen ofthe medical system. In another example, the user may request livesupport from another medical professional. In still further embodiments,the optically machine readable code may encode dynamic information, forexample, a current fill level of liquid drug in the medical vaporizer122, or static information, for example a manufacturer or a serialnumber of the medical vaporizer 122. The graphical display 138 mayoperate to present this information.

In some embodiments, the machine readable code 134 may be displayedautomatically in response to the controller detecting a pre-definedcondition. Examples of pre-defined conditions may include a fault withthe vaporizer subsystem 126, or a data field that is required to befilled prior to completion of a process or algorithm. In anotherspecific embodiment, the machine readable code may also continuallyrepresent a status of the vaporizer subsystem 126.

In some embodiments, the machine readable code 134 may include data,including the static or dynamic information, to be uploaded to anexternal database. In these embodiments, the machine readable code 134includes embedded data, rather than merely being a request for data. Thedata is then uploaded to the portable electronic device 136 by scanningthe optically machine readable code 134 with the camera 140. The dataembedded in the optically machine readable code 134 may then be uploadedto the network database 142 from the portable electronic device 136 forfurther analysis or storage.

In some embodiments, the machine readable codes 134 as described hereinmay include embedded security credentials that provide forauthentication between the medical vaporizer 122 and the portableelectronic device 136. In these embodiments, only medical vaporizers andportable electronic devices 136 configured to receive and authenticatethe security credentials may be used with one another. Such securitycredentials provide additional security advantages when dealing, forexample, with confidential patient health information.

Referring back to the flow chart of FIG. 3 and the exemplary embodimentsdepicted in FIGS. 1 and 2, while the medical vaporizer is connected tothe external power source, and concurrently with the determinedvaporizer status and the operation of the graphical display aspreviously described, in embodiments of the medical vaporizer thatinclude an internal power storage device, this internal power storagedevice is charged at 208. As previously described, this internal powerstorage device may be a battery, but may also, in alternativeembodiments, be a super capacitor. It is to be recognized that inembodiments of the method 200, the step of charging the internal powerstorage device at 208 may be optional, and in some embodiments, themedical vaporizer may not include an internal power storage device apartfrom those as may be integral components of the electronics found in themedical vaporizer.

At 210, the medical vaporizer is disconnected from the external powersource. In embodiments, this disconnection may be the disconnection ofthe medical vaporizer from the anesthesia delivery machine. Upondisconnection of the medical vaporizer from the power source at 210, themedical vaporizer enters a low power mode at 212, which may be a lowpower configuration or low power operational state. In the low powermode, the medical vaporizer maintains presentation of the information onthe graphical display at 214. In embodiments as described above, thegraphical display is a low power graphical display, and may exemplarilybe implemented as an electronic ink graphical display wherein theinformation visually presented on the graphical display is retained onthe graphical display in the absence of further electrical power andpersists until the graphical display further receives power and isactively updated.

Further in the low power mode, the medical vaporizer may determine if astatus check is required at 216. In an exemplary embodiment, wherein themedical vaporizer includes an internal power storage device that hasbeen charged by the external power source, the medical vaporizer mayretain sufficient stored power such as to perform a minimalfunctionality low power status check, exemplarily to check a fill levelof liquid drug in the liquid drug reservoir. In another exemplaryembodiment, the medical vaporizer includes a filler cap state detectorand the medical vaporizer only updates the fluid level if the filler capstate has changed. In an exemplary embodiment, the status checks mayoccur at regular intervals, or may occur upon the detection of anotherevent, exemplarily a change in filler cap state. In still furtherembodiments, the determined medical vaporizer status may be a locationof the medical vaporizer, which may be determined using any of a varietyof location determination implementations, including, but not limited toGPS or wireless triangulation.

After the updated status is determined at 218, the updated status may bestored at 220. The updated status may be stored within a computerreadable medium in the controller or integral with the controller or maybe stored in a computer readable medium communicatively connected to thecontroller. The stored system may be later transferred or used to updatethe low power graphical display as disclosed herein. Exemplarily, themedical vaporizer may store the updated status until the medicalvaporizer is receiving external power at which point the medicalvaporizer may operate the low power graphical display or to transmit theupdated status to another medical device.

In a further exemplary embodiment, the low power graphical display maybe updated at 222 to reflect the detected updated status. In anon-limiting embodiment wherein the updated status is a volume of liquiddrug in the liquid drug reservoir, the low power graphical display maybe updated to reflect the detected drug level. In such embodiments, theinternal power storage device, exemplarily a battery or super capacitor,stores a sufficient amount of power such that the medical vaporizer candetermine such updated status and update the visual presentation on thelow power graphical display.

Additionally, at 224, the medical vaporizer, while disconnected from theexternal power source, exemplarily the anesthesia delivery machine, maybecome communicatively connected with an auxiliary communication devicewhich is exemplarily a near field communication device that includes anRF coil. Such an RF coil may transfer RF energization to the medicalvaporizer which the medical vaporizer may convert into a sufficientamount of electrical power in order to determine the updated status ofthe medical vaporizer at 226. Such updated status determination at 226may be similar as described above with respect to 218. In otherembodiments, the detected updated status at 226 may differ from that at218 in that the determined updates status at 226 may be performed inembodiments that do not include an internal power storage device or mayincorporate a wider variety of determined updated statuses which mayinclude other forms of dynamic information as described above, as themedical vaporizer has access to a power source, rather than drawing upona reserved power supply.

In embodiments, as the communicative power source at 224 is a part of acommunicative connection between the auxiliary communication device andthe medical vaporizer, the medical vaporizer may operate to transmit thedetermined updated status at 228 to the auxiliary communication device.Additionally, the medical vaporizer may further operate to transmit anyother static or dynamic information that the medical vaporizer may havestored within the communication abilities of the data connection and theauxiliary communication device. Additionally, the power provided to themedical vaporizer through the RF coil of the near field communicationdevice may be sufficient in order to operate and update the visualpresentation of information on the low power graphical display 222. Itis understood that the medical vaporizer may operate in this manneruntil the medical vaporizer is connected again to an external powersource, such as an anesthesia delivery machine, at 202.

In exemplary embodiments, a medical vaporizer is provided that iscompatible with use in magnetic resonance imaging environments as thelow power graphical display may be configured in a manner such that itsoperation is not interfered with by the strong magnetic fields createdby the MRI device or such that the un-shielded components of the medicalvaporizer (e.g. the low power graphical display) adversely interferewith the operation of the MRI device.

Additionally, embodiments of the medical vaporizer as disclosed hereinhave the further advantage of having an updateable graphical displaythat visually presents information regarding the status of the medicalvaporizer, but that such visual presentation of the status of themedical vaporizer persists in the absence of an external power source.Still further embodiments of the medical vaporizer as disclosed hereinachieve such status display functionalities further without an internalpower storage device and only update such graphical display or medicalvaporizer status when in connection with a source of power.

In embodiments of the low power graphical display, such low powergraphical display may be implemented with one or more colored layers orfilters, such that the low power graphical display is able to visuallypresent information to include color coded designations or use color tohighlight presented status information, exemplarily alerts. Non-limitingexample of alerts that may be presented by the low power graphicaldisplay may be an alert for a low volume of liquid drug or an alert dueto a maintenance or service status determination.

The functional block diagrams, operational sequences, and flow diagramsprovided in the Figures are representative of exemplary architectures,environments, and methodologies for performing novel aspects of thedisclosure. While, for purposes of simplicity of explanation, themethodologies included herein may be in the form of a functionaldiagram, operational sequence, or flow diagram, and may be described asa series of acts, it is to be understood and appreciated that themethodologies are not limited by the order of acts, as some acts may, inaccordance therewith, occur in a different order and/or concurrentlywith other acts from that shown and described herein. For example, thoseskilled in the art will understand and appreciate that a methodology canalternatively be represented as a series of interrelated states orevents, such as in a state diagram. Moreover, not all acts illustratedin a methodology may be required for a novel implementation.

This written description uses examples to disclose the invention,including the best mode, and also to enable any person skilled in theart to make and use the invention. The patentable scope of the inventionis defined by the claims, and may include other examples that occur tothose skilled in the art. Such other examples are intended to be withinthe scope of the claims if they have structural elements that do notdiffer from the literal language of the claims, or if they includeequivalent structural elements with insubstantial differences from theliteral languages of the claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A medical vaporizer, comprising: a liquid drugreservoir configured to receive and hold a liquid drug; a low powergraphical display configured to intermittently receive power, the lowpower graphical display operable to visually present information andmaintain the visual presentation of information in the absence of power;a controller configured to intermittently receive power and uponreceiving power, the controller operates to determine a status of themedical vaporizer and operates the low power graphical display topresent the status of the medical vaporizer as visually presentedinformation.
 2. The medical vaporizer of claim 1, wherein the graphicaldisplay is an electronic ink display.
 3. The medical vaporizer of claim1, wherein the medical vaporizer is compatible for use with a magneticresonance imaging (MRI) machine.
 4. The medical vaporizer of claim 1,further comprising: a fluid sensor associated with the liquid drugreservoir and the fluid sensor measures a volume of the liquid drugpresent in the liquid drug reservoir; wherein the status of the medicalvaporizer comprises the volume of liquid drug present in the liquid drugreservoir.
 5. The medical vaporizer of claim 1, further comprising: aradio frequency (RF) coil configured to receive RF signals; and a nearfield power converter connected to the RF coil, the near field powerconverter is operable to transfer power from received RF signals to thecontroller and the low power graphical display; wherein upon receivingthe transferred power, the controller operates to update the status ofthe medical vaporizer and operates the low power graphical display topresent the updated status of the medical vaporizer.
 6. The medicalvaporizer of claim 5, wherein the RF coil is further configured towirelessly transmit data and the controller operates the RF coil tobroadcast the determined updated status of the medical vaporizer.
 7. Themedical vaporizer of claim 1, wherein the controller further operatesthe graphical display to present visually presented informationcomprising at least one of: a liquid drug type, a vaporizer serialnumber, a vaporizer manufacturer, a vaporizer manufacture date, acalibration table, a manufacturer website, a liquid agent volume, a lastservice date, a maintenance log, an operation log, a current vaporizerlocation, a location log, liquid drug volume history, a date of fill,and a fill log.
 8. The medical vaporizer of claim 7, wherein thecontroller operates the graphical display to present at least a portionof the visually presented information as a two-dimensional matrix code.9. The medical vaporizer of claim 1, further comprising: a power supplyconfigured to receive power from an external source and direct thereceived power to the controller and the low power graphical display;and an energy storage device connected to the power supply and thecontroller, and when the power supply receives power from the externalsource, the power supply operates to charge the energy storage device,and the controller receives power from the energy storage device in theabsence of power from the external source.
 10. The medical vaporizer ofclaim 9, further comprising: a computer readable medium communicativelyconnected to the controller; wherein when the controller receives powerfrom the energy storage device, the controller operates tointermittently update the determined status of the medical vaporizer andstore the updated determined status in the computer readable memory. 11.The medical vaporizer of claim 9, wherein when the controller receivespower from the power supply, the controller operates in a full poweroperational mode wherein the controller is operable to receive at leastone user input and operates to modify the visually presented informationon the low power graphical display according to the at least one userinput.
 12. A method of operation of a medical vaporizer comprising aliquid drug reservoir configured to receive and hold a liquid drug, alow power graphical display, and a controller, the method comprising:receiving power with medical vaporizer from an external power sourceexternal to the medical vaporizer; determining, with the controller, astatus of the medical vaporizer; operating the low power graphicaldisplay to visually present the status of the medical vaporizer;disconnecting the medical vaporizer from the external power source; andmaintaining the visual presentation of the status of the medicalvaporizer on the low power graphical display in the absence of powerfrom the external power source.
 13. The method of claim 12, furthercomprising: receiving a radio frequency (RF) signal at an RF coil of themedical vaporizer; converting the RF signal to power with a near fieldpower converter and transferring the power to the controller and the lowpower graphical display; determining an updated status of the medicalvaporizer with the controller, and operating the low power graphicaldisplay to visually present the updated status of the medical vaporizer.14. The method of claim 13, further comprising: broadcasting an RFcommunication signal from the RF coil, the RF communication signalcomprising the updated status of the medical vaporizer.
 15. The methodof claim 12, further comprising: receiving power at the controller froman energy storage device of the medical vaporizer; intermittentlydetermining an intermittently updated status of the medical vaporizerwith the controller; storing the intermittently updated status of themedical vaporizer in a computer readable medium of the medical vaporizercommunicatively connected to the controller; maintaining the visualpresentation of the status of the medical vaporizer on the low powergraphical display.
 16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:receiving a radio frequency (RF) signal at an RF coil of the medicalvaporizer; converting the RF signal to power with a near field powerconverter and transferring the power to the controller; and broadcastingan RF communication signal from the RF coil, the RF communication signalcomprising the intermittently updated status of the medical vaporizerfrom the computer readable medium.
 17. A vaporizer system comprising: amedical vaporizer comprising: a liquid drug reservoir configured toreceive and hold a liquid drug; a low power graphical display configuredto intermittently receive power, the low power graphical displayoperable to visually present information and maintain the visualpresentation of information in the absence of power; and a controllerconfigured to intermittently receive power and upon receiving power, thecontroller operates to determine a status of the medical vaporizer andoperates the low power graphical display to present the status of themedical vaporizer as visually presented information; and an anesthesiadelivery machine configured to connect to the medical vaporizer, andconfigured to supply power to the medical vaporizer when the anesthesiadelivery machine is connected to the medical vaporizer.
 18. Thevaporizer system of claim 17, further comprising: an auxiliarycommunication device configured to communicate with the medicalvaporizer when the medical vaporizer is disconnected from the anesthesiadelivery machine, the auxiliary communication device receives the statusof the medical vaporizer from the medical vaporizer.
 19. The vaporizersystem of claim 18, further comprising: wherein the anesthesia deliverymachine is further configured to communicate anesthesia delivery machinedata to the controller when the anesthesia delivery machine is connectedto the medical vaporizer, wherein the medical vaporizer comprises acomputer readable medium upon which the controller stores the anesthesiadelivery machine data; and wherein the auxiliary communication devicereceives the anesthesia delivery machine data from the medicalvaporizer.
 20. The vaporizer system of claim 18 further comprising:wherein the auxiliary communication device comprises a first radiofrequency coil and the medical vaporizer comprises a second radiofrequency coil and the medical vaporizer receives an RF signal from theauxiliary communication device and converts the received RF signal topower with a near field power converter; and wherein the controllerreceives the power from the near field power converter, determines anupdated status of the medical vaporizer, and operates the low powergraphical display to present the updated status of the medicalvaporizer.